298 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



the strongest boot. One of the most remarkable features of 

 their organisation is a kind of rattle terminating the tail, and 

 consisting of a number of pieces inserted into each other, all 

 alike in shape and size, hollow, and of a thin, elastic, brittle 

 substance, like that of which the scales are externally formed. 

 When provoked, the strong and rapid vibratory motions im- 

 parted to the rattle produce a sound which 

 has been compared to that of knife-grind- 

 iug, but is never loud enough to be 

 heard at any distance, and becomes almost 

 inaudible in rainy weather. 



Naturalists distinguish at least a dozen 

 different species of rattlesnakes, the com- 

 monest of which are the Boaquira {Cro- 

 talus horridus), which frequents the 

 w^armest regions of South America, and the 

 Durissus {G. durissus), which has chosen 

 the Unites States for its principal home. 

 The chief enemy of this serpent is the 

 hog, whom it dreads so much that on 

 seeing one it immediately loses all its courage, and instantly 

 takes to flight. But the hog, who smells it from afar, draws 

 nearer and nearer, his bristles erected with excitement, seizes it 

 by the neck, and devours it with great complacency, though 

 without touching the head. As the hog is the invariable com- 

 panion of the settler in the backwoods, the rattlesnake every- 

 where disappears before the advance of man, and it is to be hoped 

 that a century or two hence it will be ranked among the extinct 

 animals. The American Indians often regale on the rattlesnake. 

 When they find it asleep, they put a small forked stick over its 

 neck, which they keep immovably fixed to the ground, giving 

 the snake a stick to bite, and this they pull back several 

 times with great force, until they perceive that the poison- 

 fangs are torn out. They then cut off the head, skin 

 the body, and cook it as we do eels. The flesh is said to be 

 white and excellent. 



None of the American snakes inhabit the old world, but in 

 the East Indies and Ceylon other no less dangerous species 

 appear upon the scene, among which the celebrated Cobra de 

 Capello is one of the most deadly. 



